Summer has really been showing its face around here lately and with the warm air comes more bait and more means more fish to catch! I’ve seen a big change in water temps in the last few days, the waters around Wrightsville Beach are hanging around 80` inshore; time to go for a swim! With this warm water the bait has just exploded in numbers in the area waters and it is very easy to find.
The Spanish mackerel and Bluefish are just about everywhere you go just off the beaches from twenty feet to forty feet of water; you should have no problem catching them. I’ve had the best luck with deeper spoons on number one planners, yes I’m seeing a few on the top line but the best has been deeper. Clark-spoons in sizes 00 and 0 are doing the trick in colors silver, gold and pink flash. The Spanish hitting the top baits are hitting Blue Water Candy’s Spanish Daisy chains in colors pink, blue and silver; the great thing about this rig is you can pull it off lighter tackle outfits. I’m using thirty and forty pound clear Berkley Big Game mono for all my Spanish leaders. Tip: keep your trolling and casting speed up; faster moving baits seem to get more bites, I troll around five knots or six mph.
If you know me at all you know I love to fish for Cobia and it is now Cobia season for our local waters; the Cobia have been showing up during the last few weeks. I look this time of year for Cobia around inlets, shoals and bait schools; near shore/offshore reefs and ledges are also a good place to look too. With the water being so clear it has been easier to see those brown logs in the water. We are throwing big jigs, swim baits and live bait to the Cobia. Color really does not seem to matter; but “go bright”! When I’m not sight casting for them, we are fishing around inlets, shoals and near shore artificial reefs. I float fish, bottom fish and kite fish in these areas with live menhaden, blues and mullet as bait. If you hook one of these beast, take your time fighting them, they don’t tire out easily; a green Cobia can really tear up a boat or you!
The Redfish have slowed a little bit over the last week due to the waters warming up so fast, but we are still catching them; going earlier in the morning seems to help the bite some. Fishing top-water baits like MirrOlure’s Top Dog Jr or Top Pup also Sebile’s Ghost Walker are catching me some really nice Reds in shallow water. When I’m fishing in deeper water for Reds like around docks, creek mouths and deeper grass lines; I’m casting Berkley Gulp products like the Ripple Mullet or the three inch Gulp shrimp. The colors I prefer in the Ripple Mullet are rootbeer gold/chart tail, goby magic chart tail, new penny and pearl white for the Redfish. Rig these baits on a red, black, brown or gray jig head with a thirty to fifty pound mono or fluorocarbon leader. I have had some good luck lately with spinner baits for the Redfish and the trick that seems to work for me is a Ripple Mullet in the color rootbeer gold/chart tail as the grub on the spinner bait. Remember reel that spinner bait; just fast enough to keep it off the bottom.
Fishing Gear I use:
Reels Penn Fierce and Battle spinning in sizes 2000, 3000 & 4000 sizes. Cobia Fishing reels: Penn Battle 5000, 6000 & 7000, Penn 320LD. Line: Spiderwire Ultra-cast and Berkley Fireline braid in 8, 10 and 15 pound. Cobia Line: 30 pound Berkley Big Game Mono. Rods: Fenwick HMG GS 70M-MF, Ugly stick lites 6’6” and 7’ Med & Med-Heavy. Cobia Rods: Ugly Stik Tiger Lite Jigging series in 50-100 class spinning and casting. Leader material: Cobia; Berkley Big Game mono & Fluorocarbon in eighty to one hundred pound. Stren Fluorocarbon leader material in Tannic and Gunsmoke tints; tannic for river and stained waters, gunsmoke for clear water applications.
Thanks for reading this report, if you have any questions just let me know! Get out there and enjoy this summer weather, winter was cold and summer is going to be Hot!
Good Luck,
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
PENN Reels Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on August 18th, 2011
Well folks, we have had some cooler weather lately, but it seems that it has not hurt the fishing much at all. The water temps did not go down to much maybe a few degrees, but over all the fishing has been good to great most days. One thing I have seen lately is a good amount of bait showing up around the area, always a good sigh!
Redfish fishing has been pretty good the last few weeks, but one thing I’ve found is the weekdays have had more constancy of good Redfishing due to all the fishing pressure on the weekends. I have seen some very nice Reds lately coming form some shallow water spots, my clients this last week have caught some Reds over thirty two inches inshore. Those are some nice Reds for early May in shallow water and on very light tackle. Using bigger baits has paid off for me in the last two weeks with these bigger fish starting to bite.
One of the winners for me in the last few weeks for the Reds has been the Berkley Gulp Ripple Mullet, now I know I talk about this bait a lot; hey it works! Great swimming action and the proven fishing catching scent of Berkley Gulp! The colors I prefer in the Ripple Mullet are rootbeer gold/chart tail, goby magic chart tail, new penny and pearl white for the Redfish. Rig these baits on a red, black, brown or gray jig head with a thirty to fifty pound mono or fluorocarbon leader and you are good to go! I’ve never been a big user of spoons for Redfish, but I’ve been playing with a new spoon lately, well new to me at least. The spoon is a product of Sébile and it’s called an Onduspoon; let me tell you this spoon has got some action! I’ve caught some very nice Reds and Chopper Blues on this spoon in the last few weeks. The Onduspoon has rattles built in to it; great action and sound. The colors I prefer are gold, natural shiner, blue althea and red head; check them out at www.sebile.com
If you would rather go with the live/cut bait root for the Redfish, there is plenty on bait around; small mullet and menhaden are in most of the local creeks. The days I’ve caught bait, one cast of my net has yielded plenty bait for the day. Light Carolina rigs with an Eagle Claw L 42 #1 or 1/0 hook and twelve to sixteen inches of forty pound mono for leader as a rig. Fishing creek mouths, oyster rock edges and marsh grass lines will produce Redfish for you. Just remember fresh lively baits will catch more fish!
There has been just about all the Bluefish you want around the inlets lately and a good number of Spanish mackerel showing up as well. Trolling Clark spoons and small deep driver lures has been the key to success. Clark spoons in sizes #0, #00 and #1 in colors silver, gold and pink flash seem to work the best. Thirty or forty pound clear mono leader will work just fine and don’t forget the ball bearing swivels for those Clark spoons to keep you leaders from tingling up! There have been a few nice Chopper (bigger) Blues around the inlets in the last few weeks; casting bigger lures like the Onduspoon #3 or shallow water crank baits will find these bigger Blues. Just remembers a light steal leader for these fish for they will bite right through mono leaders.
Flounder fishing is really picking up around the area. Most of the Flounder are eating little menhaden and Mud minnows on light Carolina rigs. The Flounder are mixed in size to just under keeper size to a few over five pounds. I have caught some Flounder on Artificial baits as well. I have had the best luck with Berkley Gulp mud minnow in pearl white, sardine, killifish and new penny colors. Rig the grubs on a red or black jig head for best results. Flounder fishing should stay consistent right through the summer and fall.
Last but never lest; Cobia are starting to show up around the area waters. I look for Cobia around inlets, shoals and bait schools; near shore/offshore reefs and ledges are also a good place to look too. With the water being so clear it has been easier to see those brown logs in the water. We are throwing big jigs, swim baits and live bait to the Cobia. Color really does not seem to matter; but “go bright”! When I’m not sight casting for them, we are fishing around inlets, shoals and near shore artificial reefs. I float fish, bottom fish and kite fish in these areas with live menhaden, blues and mullet as bait. You can chum if you like, but the sharks will come and they will come in numbers!
Fishing Gear I use:
Reels Penn Fierce and Battle spinning in sizes 2000, 3000 & 4000 sizes. Cobia Fishing reels: Penn Battle 5000, 6000 & 7000, Penn 320LD. Line: Spiderwire Ultra-cast and Berkley Fireline braid in 8, 10 and 15 pound. Cobia Line: 30 pound Berkley Big Game Mono. Rods: Fenwick HMG GS 70M-MF, Ugly stick lites 6’6” and 7’ Med & Med-Heavy. Cobia Rods: Ugly Stik Tiger Lite Jigging series in 50-100 class spinning and casting. Leader material: Berkley Big Game mono & Fluorocarbon. Stren Fluorocarbon leader material in Tannic and Gunsmoke tints; tannic for river and stained waters, gunsmoke for clear water applications.
Thanks for reading this report, if you have any questions just let me know! If you would like to go fishing drop me a line; I’m booking now for this coming summer fishing season and don’t forget to take a kid fishing!
Good Luck,
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
PENN Reels Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on August 18th, 2011
The weather has been just right lately for good inshore and near shore fishing; the great thing is the fishing has been great too! I feel that we are about two weeks ahead of the normal water temps and fishing for this time of year! Here is this weeks fishing report>>>
I’m seeing Bonita, Blues and a few Spanish when we are trolling off the beach to five miles off. Trolling Clark spoons and small deep driver lures has been the key to success. When using the Clark spoons, I would recommend the pink flash spoon in sizes #00, #0 and #1; the pink flash series has really helped me put more fish in the boat. A bird rig on top with a Clark spoon about five to six feet behind it or Blue water Candy Spanish daisy chain (blue, silver, pink) have worked very well on top too. Look for birds working or marking bait on you fish finder is the way to find the feeding fish. When the fish are not on top, I’ve caught some nice Blues and a few Bonita by casting a spoon out and letting it sink down before reeling is in. I’ve found that some times these fish are deeper and you can get them by getting down to deeper water.
With all this warm air lately the Redfish and Black drum have been moving in to the shallower waters. I caught some very nice Reds and Black drum this last few weeks in waters of five to as shallow as one foot deep. The trick for the Reds has been Berkley Gulp Alive in patterns three inch Shrimp and Mud minnow; fishing these baits around docks, oyster rocks and grass lines. Going with lighter jig heads 1/16oz and 1/8oz is working well on the fish that are in one to five foot of water. Bait fishing is still good and will continue right through the summer. Red and Black drum are hitting cut shrimp and mullet on Carolina rigs around the same areas; docks, oyster rocks etc… You never know how big or little the drum will be when you are bait fishing; we’ve had reds as small as fourteen inches and as big as over thirty inches lately.
The Flounder fishing should really start to pick soon, I look for Flounder around the inlets and just off the beach in the spring/early summer mouths. Small baits like mud minnows are great ‘Flounder finder’ baits, you can use these baits for a long time before they die and they are pretty easy to catch. Another way I really like to catch Flounder is with five inch Berkley Gulp Jerkshad; the pinfish don’t seem to tear these apart quite as fast as live baits. Just rig the Berkley Gulp Jerkshad like any grub and keep the flat side of the Jerkshad facing up where the hook comes out. Don’t really worry too much about color, but I would recommend going with brighter colors for Flounder fishing.
Fishing Gear we use:
Reels Penn Fierce and Battle spinning in sizes 2000, 3000 & 4000 sizes.
Line: Spiderwire Ultra-cast and Berkley Fireline braid in 8, 10 and 15 pound. Rods: Fenwick HMG GS 70M-MF, Ugly stick lites 6’6” and 7’ Med & Med-Heavy. Leader material: Berkley Big Game mono & Fluorocarbon. Stren Fluorocarbon leader material in Tannic and Gunsmoke tints; tannic for river and stained waters, gunsmoke for clear water applications.
Thanks for reading this report, if you have any questions just let me know! If you would like to go fishing drop me a line; I’m booking now for this coming summer fishing season and don’t forget to take a kid fishing!
Good Luck,
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
PENN Reels Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on August 18th, 2011
I hope everyone is enjoying some of this warmer weather lately and now if the wind would just lay down a little bit, we go fishing even more! It will not be long before its ninety degrees and no wind at all. For those of you who are loyal readers, I’m sorry for the break in regular fishing reports, I have been very busy this winter with seminars, fishing schools, tackle sales and my fishing trips mixed in too. I’m back now and will keep the fishing reports coming bi-weekly as normal. Here it this weeks fishing report>>>
The Redfish and Black drum bite in the ICW and creeks just off the ICW has been good. I’m starting to see a few smaller Reds 14” to 21” in some of the creeks on warmer days; a few over slot fish mixed in as well. Most of the reds and black drum are hitting mud minnows and “fresh as you can get shrimp”. I use two hook bottom rigs with 2, 1 & 1/0 bait holder hooks, with the fresh shrimp, when fishing for the black drum and reds. If you would like to go the artificial root, I would recommend using scented grubs. The best luck baits have been Berkley Gulp and Berkley Powerbait shrimp in colors Pearl, Molting and New Penny. Jigs heads for the grubs in 1/8oz to 3/8 oz, colors red and black seem to be the trick. Work’em slow around docks and drop-offs on grass lines and oyster rocks. The best tides have been falling or raising but fishing closer to the lower parts of the tides.
Something that I love to do this time of year (late March to early June) is go up to lock & dam #1 and fish for Shad. These fish are so much fun to catch; they run, jump and run some more. Light tackle and fly fishing is the name of the game here! I see so many people fishing for shad use to heavy of tackle. Lighter tackle equals more bites and more fun! All you need is a light rod and reel; I use a Pflueger Echelon combo PFLECHSP502CB2 loaded with six pound Berkley Fireline crystal braid. A two shad dart rig with Fifth teen or twenty pound mono or fluorocarbon leader; darts in colors pink and green. On our last trip we caught well over fifty shad. If you have not ever tried it; you need too! Also while your shad fishing you can put out a catfish line and sometimes catch a very nice Blue catfish.
False Albacore fishing has been good the days I can get out for them. I’m finding the Albacore from five to twenty miles offshore. There has been a few Bonita mixed in with them form time to time as well. It should not be long before we are catching good numbers of Bonita around the area waters. The #0 and #1 pink flash, silver and gold Clark spoon has caught most of our fish lately. Trolling these spoons on #1 or #2 planner; with thirty to forty feet of forty pound Berkley big game mono as leader on the planners is the way to go. On the bird rig for the surface fishing; I rig it with five to six feet of leader to the spoon. Don’t forget to put a ball bearing swivel on the bird and planner; this will keep tangles from happing (well most of the time!)
When the Bonita and Albacore are on top feeding; cast Maria and Sea striker jig-spoons. The colors that seem to work the best are pink, green and blue. I use a forty pound Fluorocarbon leader; about fifth teen to twenty inches long. I really like Stren’s tinted (gunsmoke) fluorocarbon leader material for clear water conditions; “this stuff really works”! A light weight 7’ rod and a Penn Battle 3000 loaded with ten to fifth teen pound braid is important for casting to these fast fish. The reason for this is the further you can cast equals more chance’s you will hook up. When there are a lot of boats chasing the Bonita, they get wearer of boats. If you can cast farther; you will catch more of these fish!
Fishing Gear we use:
Reels Penn Fierce and Battle spinning in sizes 2000, 3000 & 4000 sizes.
Line: Spiderwire Ultra-cast and Berkley Fireline braid in 8, 10 and 15 pound. Rods: Fenwick HMG GS 70M-MF, Ugly stick lites 6’6” and 7’ Med & Med-Heavy. Leader material: Berkley Big Game mono & Fluorocarbon. Stren Fluorocarbon leader material in Tannic and Gunsmoke tints; tannic for river and stained waters, gunsmoke for clear water applications.
Thanks for reading this report, if you have any questions just let me know! If you would like to go fishing drop me a line; I’m booking now for this coming summer fishing season and don’t forget to take a kid fishing!
Good Luck,
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
PENN Reels Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on August 18th, 2011
Wow, what a difference some warm weather makes on fishing! This has been some of the best February weather I’ve ever seen around southeast North Carolina in a very long time! The great thing it has really gotten the fish moving and starting to feed some around the local waters. And that’s what I’m going to go over in this fishing report.
I love saltwater fishing but, I like any kind of fish pulling on my line salt or fresh and this time of year you can catch some really nice fresh water fish. I have run a few fresh water trips in the last few weeks with some pretty good success; we even got a few very nice bass on a fly rod early last week that went just over six pounds. Fishing local lakes, ponds and the Northeast Cape Fear River has been producing good catches of large-mouth bass. The best baits lately have been Berkley Powerbait 5” Sinkworms in colors green pumpkin/watermelon, black with red flake and watermelon. I’m rigging these worms Texas and wacky style on 4/0 wide gap worm hooks. When we are casting the fly rod we are using; six to eight weight rods with floating line and eight to twelve pound tippets.
One fish that has just been waiting for the water to warm up just a bit is the good’ole Redfish; they are on the move and biting! We are seeing the Reds on the shallow mud and oyster flats now in good numbers. Capt Jeff Wolfe and I gave it a shot last week and ended up with just over forty-five Redfish for the day. All the Reds hit Berkley Gulp 3” shrimp in colors natural and molting on 1/8oz and 1/4oz jig heads with twenty pound Stren tinted tannic fluorocarbon leader. There have been a few schools of Reds around the local inlets and just off the beaches if we can get the weather to go get them!
The Cape Fear River Stripers are biting from time to time; it got a little cold for them but with this nice warm up they should start biting. The Stripers are hitting Berkley gulp jerk shad 5” in colors pearl, new penny and electric chicken. We rig the jerk shad Texas style, with a large 5/0 worm hook. Rapala X-raps work too, in colors glass ghost and green back. Remember, still work the lures slow for the water is warming up but it’s still a little cold.
I would like to thank everyone who has attended the fishing schools, seminars and boat shows I’ve spoke at this winter, it always good to see everyone. There have been some very good seminars/schools this winter and the turnouts have been great, thanks again for attending. If anyone has any questions about any of the classes I spoke at, please feel free to e-mail the questions any time to captainjot@yahoo.com There are a few more good fishing functions you can attend this spring, here are a few more I’ll be at in the near feature.
February 25th, 26th and 27th Bass Pro Shop 2011 Spring Fishing Classic, Myrtle Beach, SC. I’ll be answering any questions you have about products made by Penn, Spidwire, Berkley, Fenwick, Minn Kota, MirrOlure and many others you want to purchase at this sale. Bass Pro is also offering there Reel Trade-Ins program for you to save money on your new reels purchased from Bass Pro.
March 26th: Tex’s Tackle Spring Sale and Fishing Seminars. Yes it’s that time of year again Tex’s big spring sale, Tex will have all kinds of good deals on tackle to get you started for this upcoming fishing season. I’ll be to help you with any questions you have about tackle and I’ll also being doing a seminar or two on inshore fishing.
*If you know any one or your looking for a Bay boat my 2008 Ranger Bay 2200 is for sale please look at this link for all the info on this well maintained Ranger. http://www.boattrader.com/listing/2008-Ranger-2200-Bay-97953352 If you have any questions or would like to see/test drive please let me know.
Fishing gear I use:
Gear used: Redfish, Bass and Striped Bass: reels Penn Conquer 2000 and Battle 2000 & 3000 spinning reels. Fenwick HMG GS 70M-MF for Redfish, Bass and Striped Bass. Line: Spiderwire Ultracast ten and fifth teen pound. Fluorocarbon leader material, Stren Tinted Fluorocarbon in tints Gunsmoke for clearer waters and Tannic for river or stained waters in thirty pound for Redfish and Striped Bass.
Thanks for reading, hope to see you at a boat show or fishing seminar this winter; please come by and say hello.
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
Penn Reels Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139
Posted in Fishing Reports on August 18th, 2011